Prize “Town of Taormina”
in memory of Nino Manfredi
Hotel Villa Diodoro, January 6th 2015 @6.00pm
During the evening > concert of the Taormina Plectrum Orchestra
“Nino” Manfredi (22 March 1921 – 4 June 2004) was one of the most prominent Italian actors in the commedia all’italiana genre. He was also a film and stage director, a screenwriter, a playwright, a comedian, a singer, an author, a radio and television presenter and a voice actor. He won six David di Donatello awards, six Nastro d’Argento awards and the Prix de la première oeuvre (Best First Work Award) at the 1971 Cannes Film Festival for Between Miracles.
Tipically playing losers, emarginated, working-class characters yet “in possession of their dignity, morality, and underlying optimism”, he was referred to as “one of the few truly complete actors in Italian cinema”.
Manfredi was married to runway TAORMINESE model Erminia Ferrari from 1955 till his death. In 2007 an asteroid (73453 Ninomanfredi) was named after him. In 2009 a Nino Manfredi Prize was established at the Nastro d’Argento Awards. Manfredi also named a theatre in Ostia, Rome.
On the occasion of the tenth anniversary of his death, in 2014, Manfredi was remembered by “Nino!”, a series of events, held in various places including Los Angeles, New York, Rome and Paris, which included retrospectives, exhibitions, and the staging of an unreleased play of Manfredi.[17]